(Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Alice McFarlane

Climate change

Partnership to help producers manage climate change

Apr 17, 2019 | 4:38 PM

The provincial government, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada and the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (WSA), will provide $1.3 million in funding to help producers and communities manage the impacts of climate change.

Natural Resources Canada pledged more than $587,000 through the Building Regional Adaptation Capacity and Expertise Program. The provincial government is providing $320,000, while WSA along with partner organizations will contribute an additional $326,000 of in-kind support.

Patrick Boyle with WSA said there will be a focus on education through informational workshops.

“Those workshops will be designed to look at the agricultural water management strategy and help producers view their operations for incorporating climate change considerations into the design of their drainage projects,” Boyle said. “Making them more resilient to a changing climate. That flows right into the Saskatchewan Climate Resiliency Plan. That will be one of the first things we’ll be looking at.”

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Boyle said there will be an increase in the qualified persons training program so each region of the province will have access to more resources.

“Those qualified persons can work with producers to help them effectively advance their projects and work through that approval process,” Boyle said.

The third component of the program will work with communities who are at a high risk of hydrological drought and develop a drought response plan.

“The intent of these plans is to help those communities become more resilient to drought conditions and enable them to consider those hazards and vulnerabilities that we have right now as it relates to future changing climate in Saskatchewan.”

Boyle said the workshops will be launched over the next two years with the hope of reaching 2,500 producers.

“We want to do these drainage projects in a responsible way and make sure they are well managed,” Boyle said. “There are two ends of the spectrum. One being flooding and too much water and then on the opposite end of things a drought situation and having no water at all. So looking at it with both lenses.”

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF